Middleware security and secure SOA becoming a hot topic in ATM

The EU FP6 R&D project SWIM-SUIT includes a workpackage to identify the middleware security requirements. The results will provide useful input to the SESAR program. Support for agile security is emerging as an important requirement which will have to be addressed.

Please put any other related projects into comments and we will merge them in with this message.

Related information on secure information sharing/CDM-A

You can find further technical information about service-oriented secure information sharing at www.trustedsoa.org. It is quite possible that ATC and airport integration will be based on some kind of service-oriented architecture (SOA) vision. And because system assurance is important for safety-critical systems such as ATC, our other blog might also be of interest to you (some even more technical information about security for complex IT environments can also be found at www.modeldrivensecurity.org). There is also www.securemiddleware.org.

Welcome & Introduction

Welcome! In the past, Air Traffic Control (ATC) was mainly concerned with safety, for example to ensure a sufficient separation between planes. Today this is not enough anymore, because during the last years the air traffic increased at very high rates. Instead of just keeping planes separated from each other, an efficient usage of the air space, avoidance of congestions or fuel economy play are more and more important role. This has a strong impact on ATC technology. Airports face a similar challenge with ever-increasing passenger numbers, as well as the constant need to optimise operations and to guarantee public safety.

In order to optimise operations, the involved stakeholders need to share more and more information, and they need to do this faster and faster (ideally in real-time). To achieve this, significant pervasive IT infrastructure is required, and security plays a critical role in getting stakehodler buy-in for sharing information. This is partly because of separated responsibilities, which get blurred if too much information is shared (esp. with untrusted stakeholders). This is why information security is so important.

Ulrich